To Change the Past
by Interesto
Summary: Naruko Uzumaki has seen too much war, and seen too many of her friends die. So when she has the chance to go back and change everything, she takes it. However, there is a catch: she can't go back and save herself, so instead she chooses to save another version of herself, one who is a guy.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**

 **Please don't hate me for not focusing on one story. I just can't, m8.**

Chapter 1—A chance to fix the past

Madara was dead. He was truly dead, and yet, it didn't matter. No one else was there to share in the victory. The only ones there to witness the final defeat of the greatest Uchiha were the reanimated Tobirama Senju, and Orochimaru of all people. Naruko hardly thought that they counted.

So there she was now, staring absently at the body of her foe, wondering what she would do next, after taking some time to recover emotionally, of course. Her body would be fine, thanks to her Uzumaki blood and Kurama inside of her, but her mind couldn't ever be the same again. She had no friends left and no future, not even the Byakugan eye Hinata had given her with her dying breath could see what she would do.

In the mindscape shared by all Biju and their Jinchuriki she stared into the mad eye of the giant fox before her. "Kurama what do we do now?" she quietly asked her partner; maybe he had an idea of what she should do.

" **Well you could free me and let yourself die"** he suggested, as if it were so simple of a task.

Naruko sighed, she really had been thinking of doing that. "No, I don't want to die yet. Something's telling me it's not my time."

" **And all the times you nearly died against the Akatsuki didn't tell you that you weren't going to die yet?"** Kurama chuckled slightly.

"I suppose you're right," she conceded. "I would try the time travel seal so I can just fix everything, but it doesn't work."

" **You and I may not be smart enough to figure out some damn seal, but our two allies here might. They are considered genius's after all,"** he reminded her.

Naruko blinked, not having thought of that, before exiting the shared mental plain and shouting at the two men who were standing a distance off "What do the two of you know about time travel?"

-0-

It had been several hours, and Naruko was growing incredibly impatient. Not that she had ever been the most patient person to begin with, and added to the anger that had been growing within her over the past few years, well, to say the least it made Kurama happy. She was considering, at the moment, that in fact since men were useless, she'd just finish the damn seal herself; though her rational self told her that she couldn't, and that was why she needed help in the first place. She was abruptly woken from her thoughts when Tobirama came over to her and announced that "The seal is ready." It was about damn time for that too. She had been waiting for far too long.

She stood up and walked over to where an intricate seal had been drawn into the ground, spiraling out for several feet. She began to try to decipher it for herself as Tobirama explained how the seal worked. It was far beyond her comprehension, which was extremely aggravating to her, but as she was listening to the former Hokage wrap up his explanation, Naruko realized the flaw in the seal. "It's not going to work," she said flatly.

"Oh, so you figured it out, did you? I didn't think that you'd be able to." Naruko restrained herself from beating the shit out of Orochimaru for his remark, and was it ever tempting.

"Yes it's true," Tobirama nodded, "the seal can only send someone back mentally to their true past. Any attempt at sending the body will cause the body and mind sent back to deteriorate within a matter of hours due to the paradox of there being two of you in one place. You won't be able to stop any of this happening to the true you, but we can change some of the essence of the you we send you back to. Anything that happened to you will also happen to other you, and the end result will be the same as now, unless you change it."

"Well I can't just send my mind back," Naruko thought out loud, "and I guess it doesn't really matter anymore because I can't save myself." And for once she truly was disappointed. She really didn't know what to do now since her only chance to fix what would happen to her.

" **You truly are a disappointment, Naruko Uzumaki,"** the voice of Kurama boomed in her head. **"How many times do you think that you stood here and didn't go back to save yourself because it wasn't truly yourself. How selfish can you be? The Naruko I know always helped the ones she cared about to the best she could. And even though she failed, she never gave up. We are friends, Naruko, and though I'll kill you one day, for now I'll give you a chance to make the right choice."**

The giant fox's words really struck her. They had always worked together just because they had to in order to stop the Akatsuki from taking over all the Bijuu, as well the fact that the Kyuubi really enjoyed all her rage and hatred. "Wow that's really out of character for you, you big softy," she muttered, "but you're right. Right about that I should save this other version of me. But you're still wrong about me not being selfish. I did everything we've done together out of selfishness."

To that, Kurama could only snort in amusement.

Before the shinobi by Naruko's side could begin to try to change her mind, she informed them "I changed my mind. I'm going to save this other me and her friends, because I couldn't save them before."

Not seeming very confused about her sudden change of mind, Tobirama nodded and said "Very well then, we shall begin."

-0-

Naruko was inside a seal, and while that had happened before, none of them were like this one. It was like a tunnel, with a rotating chakra wall that seemed to rotate both slower than mountains grew and faster than a bolt of lightning. It was frightening, but the strangest part of her was that bolts of the strange chakra had hit her when the seal first activated, and now she was staring at her own body. She had changed a lot over the years too. Her once tan skin was white with the scars from her own chakra that had become more corrosive as her anger grew and she became closer to the fox. Her short, spiky, blond hair had been grown out to reach her mid back. She kept most of it in a loose braid but had ninja wire where it divided when she used Kurama's chakra. Her bangs gathered on the right side of her face.

Her left eye, the visible one, was no longer the same after many years. Once a bright blue, it was now a bright purple, with the pupil being stretched to more resemble the fox's. Her ears were also influenced by the fox, becoming more pointed, and her canines also had become nearly fangs. Her right eye was the white Byakugan that Hinata had given her before she died, which she covered with a black eye-patch. Naruko had lost her own eye to a stray senbon. Though she looked more like the fox, her whisker marks had oddly faded, though they did show up when she drew on Kurama's chakra. Kurama said it was probably because her chakra had become more like his. Missing having some kind of mark on her face, she had painted red marks under her eyes that went out to her ears and down the side of her face. Though based on Jiraiya's paint, Naruko's made it so that more chakra was naturally sent to her eyes, making it easier to see and break genjutsu, not used to summon toads.

She had made several modifications to the outfit that she wore too. She switched out her black headband for a red one like Sakura had worn. She wore a sleeveless black shirt with an orange stripe at the base of its high collar, along with looser fitting grey pants that stopped at just around her knees. She had tied a red obi around her waist. Under that she wore a mesh bodysuit, for protection as well as for channeling a chakra shroud made of her own chakra, she had also wrapped the visible parts of her arms and legs in grey camouflage bandages. Instead of the usual flak jacket worn by Konoha shinobi, she instead wore the one worn by the ANBU, though it was a lighter grey than the ones worn by the assassination unit. Her gloves were also long and light grey, but they only had armor on the back of the hands, as on the wrists she had orange scrolls that she used to summon weapons. She wore black ninja sandals, though they were even shorter than usual to provide her with a greater range in movement and flexibility. She also was wearing a brown reinforced trench coat that she mainly used to blend in, as it cast a subtle genjutsu that would make civilians and weaker shinobi simply overlook her. It was also full of pockets, which any shinobi would find useful. She had slung her katana over her shoulder; it was a simple looking blade, with a simple black scabbard and hilt, and the blade looked average, though it was very strong and sharp, and could channel even Kurama's chakra without being destroyed.

The chakra of the tunnel was beginning to destroy her body, and Naruko began swimming over to her body and closed her eyes. When she reopened them, she was back in her body, and all she felt was intense pain. She felt as if her entire body was just going to fade away, and though the chakra was burning it, Kurama was healing her even quicker. So she just floated through the tunnel and tried to tune out the pain. As if sensing an end, the chakra in the tunnel began to flare, and Naruko grit her teeth as the pain grew more intense, before it reached its crescendo, and there was a sudden flash of blinding light, and she was unceremoniously dumped in a forest clearing. Feeling light-headed and nearly completely drained of chakra, she realized with a start that all of the trees in a fifty foot radius had been blown back, probably by a burst of chakra, and if that was the case, than more likely than not there were a squad of ANBU on the way to capture her. She felt Kurama's chakra working its way towards her eyes, and he activated her Byakugan, and she saw on the mountain the faces of the first four Hokage, and on top of the Hokage tower, Hiruzen Sarutobi himself. To Naruko, it seemed as if the elderly shinobi was looking directly at her, and with a shudder, she deactivated the Byakugan. She took a deep breath to make up her mind to go to Konoha and show herself to the Hokage, but before she could, she fell over, and the last thing she saw was a squad of ANBU looking at her, and their leader giving handsigns.

-0-

Naruko woke up in a dungeon, and outside it, a dark-haired man with scars on his face was talking to a short old man in a funny red and white outfit. He was saying "…her DNA matches up with nearly exactly with the-" He cut off before he was finished speaking as he noticed that she had woken up, but before he could say anything to her she passed out again, letting her dead tiredness take over her.

-0-

She woke up again and the same old man was outside of her cell, though this time he was with a blond man with a ponytail. "…severe chakra depletion and her mind is scrambled. Concussed maybe. We're not sure, not until she wakes up and we can get inside her mind," he was saying.

"I see," the old man nodded. "Not only that, but she has the Kyuubi's chakra and a Byakugan…"

She passed out again.

-0-

This time Naruko woke up feeling very refreshed. She noticed the IV in her arm, and thought about taking it out, but decided against it. She tried to get her bearings about her, still feeling very confused and disorientated. She thought and tried to remember what had happened. She had defeated Madara, and travelled back in time to fix everything. It was Kurama who had convinced her to do it. Kurama! Where was he? She could feel his chakra inside of her but she couldn't contact him. She couldn't get her own chakra either. They had probably put a seal on her, thinking that she was dangerous. It was then that she also realized that she was very naked, with only a bedsheet to cover her, and that her eyepatch was gone, for all the world to see her Byakugan. None of her equipment was in the room, though she had expected that.

She heard a set of footsteps, and a second later she saw the blond man from before, who she now realized was Inoichi Yamanaka. Last she had seen the man, he had died protecting his daughter from a nasty sound attack used by the Otogakure shinobi. She steeled herself not only for this confrontation, but for the ones she knew were going to happen in the future. "Well, you're awake. We need to have a talk." Inoichi's voice wasn't cold or intimidating, but rather matter-of-fact. He made a hand seal, and a clone poofed into existence, before running down the hallway and only half a minute later returning with the old Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"Now, why don't you tell us who you are, my dear," Hiruzen commanded. Her once grandfather figure's voice was warm and full of mirth, but it contained a steel that would show itself if she resisted.

Seeing no use in lying, as both of the shinobi in front of her would be able to tell very quickly, she said "My name is Naruko Uzumaki, I'm a time traveler from the future."

If he was surprised by this answer at hall, the old Hokage didn't show it. Years of experience would make either of them difficult to read. "Okay then, can you tell me how and why you came back from the future?"

"I came back through the use of a seal that I was working on. Orochimaru and the reanimated Tobirama Senju helped me complete it," she informed them. She knew about where about in time she had landed by the man's reaction. He grew a scowl and Naruko began to understand that she had landed about where she had wanted to. "I did it because everyone I knew, all of my friends were dead. I wanted to go back and stop everything from happening. But it couldn't work so I'm helping me, who's also not me. It's the best I can do." Here some of her emotions began to leak through her voice.

Hiruzen's face softened a bit. "So I'm dead then, when you come from?"

"Yes," Naruko bit back her emotions, "you both are."

Neither shinobi outwardly reacted to that, Hiruzen just continued with "Okay, can you tell me why the Kyuubi is sealed in you and not Naruto, as it should be? And why your right eye is a Byakugan?"

"Wait, Naruto? The me here is a boy?" Naruko wasn't exactly pleased with this information. Saving him would be harder. Boys were stupid, after all. Well that, and she had a feeling that the male version of herself would have even less self-control than she did

"Yes," Hiruzen seemed amused by her response, though she was unsure if he really felt that way. "Now would you answer the question please?"

"As I said before," Naruko reminded them, "I am Naruto, kind of. The Kyuubi was sealed in me when I was a baby, as I assume it was Naruto. I've carried him with me all my life. And I got this eye from a friend when she died. She wanted her visual prowess to remain with Konoha rather than fall in enemy hands."

"I see," Hiruzen hummed. "What do you think Inoichi?"

"I couldn't detect any lies from her. She's telling the truth," the man responded.

"Very well, you may leave us, and tell Shikaku she's trustworthy," Hiruzen dismissed his subordinate.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Inochi confirmed before returning down the hallway from which he came.

Hiruzen sighed after Inoichi left, dropping his tough facade. "You aren't a spy are you? If you are, you're pretty bad at it."

Naruko felt a bubble of irritation rise up in her. "Yeah well, lying's never been my strong suit Jiji."

Hiruzen allowed himself a smile. "That it isn't, Naruko-chan. Are you going to tell me all what happened?"

Naruko took a deep breath. "I'm afraid I can't, not because I don't want to, but because our enemies might grow suspicious, they're smarter than we think, after all. I'll tell you when the time comes." Though, she was truly thinking how she didn't want to break the old man's heart, or her own for that matter.

"Very well. For the next two months I want you to think about what to do as best as you can. You can train and integrate yourself into the forces too, but I don't want you to make them suspect you. After that time, I'll be sending you on missions."

"Why two months?" Naruko had to ask.

"Why that's because you graduate in two months," Hiruzen responded with a grin, but his face quickly turned serious. "You're going to need an alias. Your name is practically the same."

"Right." Naruko thought for a second. "How about Itamiko Shiokaze? I think it seems appropriate. I'm also going to need a cover story."

"How old are you, Naruko-chan?" Hiruzen asked, multiple thoughts clearly running through his mind.

"I'm twenty," Naruko told him. Usually she'd get mad when people asked questions like that, as they generally came from people like Jiraiya, but she knew that he was trying to give her a cover story.

"You were a war orphan, from the Third Great War, you entered Konoha, didn't make many friends, and graduated early," Hiruzen told her. "Your Genin team was killed and you were allowed a special exception to make Chunin without taking the exams. You were assigned some special missions before the Uchiha massacre, and since you've been following Itachi Uchiha, but returned when you were almost compromised."

"That's pretty intense, I don't think many people will believe it," Naruko said.

"It's not out of the realm of the impossible," said Hiruzen, "just don't allow anyone to even guess that there's another truth, Itamiko. I'll tell Shikaku and Inoichi that that's what happened, and if anyone questions them about you, your cover won't be blown. It won't be good if Danzo were to find out that you're from the future." And with that he touched her forehead, and removed the seal that she had been trying to find. "Now," Hiruzen continued, "your new apartment will be in the same building on that of Naruto Uzumaki. Your room will be on the same floor as his. I will pay for it until you start doing missions."

"Right," said Naruko, "but I'm going to need some clothes. I'm not going to go out there naked." She didn't miss the blush that grew over the old man's face, and her irritation grew even more. She had forgotten that he was a pervert.

-0-

Minutes later Naruko, now Itamiko, was wearing a red dress and her old black eyepatch as she was walking over towards her apartment. It had been a while since she had lived in a building and had neighbors and such, it would take her a little while to get used to it of course. She was staying just a few doors down from Naruto, she wanted to keep an eye on him, but also have a bit of distance from him. Not surprisingly, no one else was on the same floor as they were. This was the time back when she was hated just for being a jinchuriki.

When she opened the door, she was surprised to see a few furnishings in her apartment already. She had a fridge and an oven, she had a couch, a bookshelf, and a bed. She was also surprised to see her things laid out on the counter, as well as her new shinobi ID. It was good that Hiruzen had gotten her a new one; her old one wasn't even valid yet.

Itamiko's stomach startled her by growling loudly, and she realized that she hadn't eaten in the past few days, so of course she'd be hungry. Upon inspection of the fridge and cupboards, she learned that she didn't have any food, so she decided that she'd just go get ramen at Ichiraku's just down the street. There was also a high chance that she'd meet Naruto, which she wanted to get out of the way.

She was right, of course. As she walked up to her old favorite place, she saw a familiar pair of orange clothed legs dangling from the seat. She at herself a couple of seats down from Naruto and ordered a bowl of miso ramen. Itamiko couldn't even remember the last time she had ramen, and she hoped it would be as good as she remembered.

"Never seen you here before," Teuchi observed. "You just get in to Konoha?"

"Kind of," she responded. She was having a hard time not looking at Naruto. He looked almost the same as she did at that age, of course, but what she was really watching was how he was eating his ramen. Bowl after bowl, faster than an Akamichi could eat. It was kind of gross, actually. "I've been on a mission the last couple of years and I never had a chance to eat here before that. Thought I'd give it a try."

"Well," Teuchi smiled, "always happy to have a new customer."

As expected, before he could ask her something else, Naruto burst in excitedly. "A mission? Are you a ninja? I'm a ninja too, and I'm the strongest ever, believe it!"

"Naruto, don't ask the poor lady so many questions," Ayame scolded him, as she gave Itamiko her bowl of ramen.

"Yes, I'm a ninja," she told the excited kid. "My mission is top-secret, of course. And I think the Hokage is stronger than you."

Naruto's face lit up. "Well of course he's stronger than me, he has to protect the whole village. Everyone looks up to him because he's the strongest. That's why I'm gonna be Hokage too, so then everybody will have to recognize me!" he exclaimed.

Itamiko ate some of her ramen before responding. "Well kid, if you want to be Hokage, you're going to have become a Genin first."

Naruto nodded. "I know, I'm gonna pass the academy this time because I can't give up. Hey what's your name? I'm Naruto Uzumaki."

Itamiko grinned. "At least you have the manners to introduce yourself first," she said. "I'm Itamiko Shiokaze. Naruto, huh? I must be your new neighbor?"

"You're my neighbor?" Naruto was ecstatic, and it kind of made her sad. "Oh, wait, I have to go. See you later, Itamiko-san."

"Bye, kid," Naruko said, as she finished her ramen.

"Hey, Itamiko-san, can I ask you to do something?" Teuchi asked with a serious look on his face.

"Sure what it is it?" She was sure that this was something to do with Naruto. Teuchi had always been there for her, and more than likely it was the same way for Naruto. The ramen stand owner had been that way until the he died.

Teuchi sighed. "Can you look out for him?" he asked. "A lot of people hate him for no reason, he's a good kid. Sometimes they break into his apartment and attack him. Usually the ninja get involved and stop it, but not often enough. You're his neighbor, can you make sure that he's okay?"

"Yeah," Itamiko smiled, "I can do that." With that she paid for her food before running up to Naruto who, was currently walking towards the center of town. "Hey, you going to the academy?" she asked him.

"Yeah," Naruto said. "I don't really want to go, but Iruka-sensei says that if I skip anymore days, they'll have to expel me."

"Iruka-sensei?" she asked. This day really was giving her a lot of hard memories.

"Yeah," he nodded. "He yells a lot at me, but he also yells a lot at other people too. He's nicer to me than most of the other teachers."

"That's good," she said. "You should listen to him, you won't become Hokage if you don't go to class. You learn a lot of good things there too." She was quoting Iruka, something he'd said that she'd never forgotten.

"Okay." Naruto sounded unsure, but she was sure that he'd listen to her. "Thanks, Itamiko-san."

"Yeah, yeah," she waved him off. "Drop the 'san,' would you kid? It's making me feel too old."

"Sure," Naruto said brightly. "Thanks, Itamiko. Bye." And with that, he walked into the academy.

Itamiko sighed, she felt the young kid already growing on her. Though, to be fair, he was her. And with a groan, she walked off towards the market; she needed to get groceries as she didn't have any food. "Hey Kurama," she asked her tenant, "did you get a read on the you inside of him?"

" **Yeah,"** he grunted, **"I'm dormant inside of the seal. If I remember correctly, I will be until he first accesses my chakra."**

"Good," she said. "We won't have to worry about him sensing you until then."

" **Yeah,"** the demon responded, **"I'll be fine, but what about you? Can you handle all this?"**

"I don't know," she responded truthfully. Her heart was already heavy and it was only going to get worse from here.

 **A/N:**

 **Hey yeah umm I got motivated to right a time travel story so I started doing that. Worry not, I'm still working on chapter 2 of Purpose, it's just not being very cooperative. Also, I'm almost ready to continue with New Experiences. I just have problems being motivated is all.**

 **11/1/16:**

 **I've gone back and made some changes, mostly in grammar and such, though some of what you saw was based on suggestions by gunner brat.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**

 **Hey do you wonderful people ever wonder why I take so long to upload? Me too.**

Chapter 2

One month later. One month, and Itamiko had finally started to make friends. With the Chuunin and Special Jounin mostly, as she was technically a Chuunin herself. It was quite often that she'd go out and get drunk with Izumo, Kotetsu, Genma, Hayate, Yugao, Anko, and Kurenai mostly. Though sometimes Gai showed up, and occasionally he dragged Kakashi along with him. So far it was all going well. Kakashi was still wary of her, but she knew he would be that way from the start. And that was what they were doing right now, with Anko telling a story on how she successfully assassinated a daimyo.

"… and then, the fucking guy just drops his pants right in front of me," she laughed.

"Don't tell me you had sex with him," Kurenai groaned.

Anko grabbed her close friend's shoulder. "Yeah we did," she grinned, "but it really wasn't that great. His d-"

"Anko!" Genma cut in. "We really don't need to know all the details."

"Right, right," Anko waved him off. "Now, where was I? Oh yeah, so then I got him to his room and he passed out afterwards. So then I just walked to where the daimyo was and killed him. Amazingly simple, really. Want to kill a person in the government? Just seduce one of his guards."

"I'll have to try that sometime, don't know how well it'll work though," said Kotetsu.

"You just have to find the right guy," Anko winked at him.

"Oh that reminds me of a time when a guy I was fighting decided to drop his pants to try to seduce me," Itamiko recalled. That had been awkward.

"Did he get to you?" Anko asked.

"No, and he won't get to anyone again," Itamiko said. All the guys in the room paled at that and she considered it a success. Anko started to laugh loudly, anyway.

"At that note," said Izumo, hoisting a very drunk Kotestu on one shoulder, "we've got to get going. We have gate duty tomorrow. Again."

"Yeah," Yugao said, "We have to get going to. Hayate and I have a mission tomorrow." And with that, the couple left the table and walked off, following Izumo and Kotetsu.

"Hey Genma, you busy tomorrow?" Anko asked.

"Nope," Genma replied. And then they walked off as well, obviously about to have some fun. They both did this often, with different people.

Itamiko looked at Kurenai and said "Well, I should get home to then, looks like the party's dead." Kurenai just waved at her, content to sit there and let her drunken stupor wear off a little, and Itamiko began to walk back towards her apartment.

"Hey Kurama," Itamiko asked. Before she finished the question, she felt Kurama's chakra flowing through her. It was great for getting rid of the effects of alcohol. By tomorrow, she would feel just fine, making her hungover friends jealous. Still, she was feeling the effects of it still now, and as she walked up the stairs and down the hall to her apartment, she almost didn't notice that Naruto's door was slightly ajar. That was odd; he never left it open. _This can't be good_ , she thought. As she walked closer over to the door, she heard the sound of hitting flesh, and a man saying "You damn demon, what the hell do you think you're doing, trying to buy clothes from my wife?"

Itamiko's eyes widened and she slammed the door open, trying to be as intimidating as possible. "What the fuck is going on here?" she said, her voice an eerie calm. She was pissed, she felt her chakra bubbling, and she couldn't even begin to restrain the killing intent that began to leak out of her. The men in Naruto's room looked they were about to piss themselves. "Get out, now," she growled. The group nearly fell over themselves as they fled the scene. She tried to calm herself down as she asked Naruto "Are you okay?" The boy's face was puffy and bruised, and bleeding, but he was still awake.

"I've been worse," he whimpered.

Itamiko groaned. "C'mon kid, you're trying to act tougher than you are." She lifted him up and carried him over to her apartment. "You can clean yourself up and stay the night at my house, alright? They won't come over here." Really, she was pissed as the kid went over to her bathroom, and she heard the sound of water running. Pissed, not just because he was her, but also because a group of men had decided to beat up a child. If Naruto hadn't been conscious, or if those men had tried to stand up to her, she would have killed them. She didn't really know what else to do, so she began to heat some hot water to make ramen with. And while similar things had happened to her, she found it very odd that no ANBU had stepped in to stop it.

As the water was near boiling, Naruto stepped out of the bathroom, looking much better. "Thanks, Itamiko-nee," he said.

"Yeah," she said, "I can't just let some guys beat up a poor kid, now can I?" Her grip on the counter tightened, but he didn't notice it.

"Some people seem okay with it," Naruto said dejectedly.

"Yeah, well they just aren't good people," she told him. "There's some ramen on the stove, and, ah, I don't have a spare bed, so I hope you don't mind sleeping on the couch."

Naruto really didn't seem to know how to react. She didn't think that many people had ever shown the kid some kindness. The thought of that made her angry. "Yeah, umm, thanks again," he said.

"My door's always open if you need it," she said sincerely, and went off to bed.

-0-

" _Sasuke," Naruko growled at her one-time friend, "why are you here?"_

" _I heard that Itachi showed his face here," came his hate filled response. "Is it true?"_

" _Yeah, it is," Naruko said. She hated him as much as Sasuke did, after all, he and Kisame had killed Jiraiya when he had tried to interfere with their plan; she couldn't find any forgiveness for either of them._

" _Where did he go? Tell me." She couldn't tell if Sasuke was emotionless or if he had as much hate as she did._

" _Is that all you really care about?" Sakura cut in. She was on the verge of tears. "So many of our friends died and that's all you care about? Your own revenge? I loved you once, you know, but now I just see that you're weak because you don't even care about your own friends at all!"_

 _Sasuke's Sharingan spun rapidly. "No, you're the ones who are weak. Friends will only drag you down."_

" _No," Naruko said. "Sakura is right. You're weak, you won't even rely on your friends. You're strong with your friends. Your hate brought you this low."_

" _As if you don't have as much hate as me," Sasuke scoffed. "We're the same, but you're weak because you won't admit it. I will eliminate you; you don't understand the pain like you should."_

" _You're wrong, Sasuke," Naruko said. "I know my own hate, and I understand it well enough to know how to use it to protect everyone else. You're the wrong one here. I'll give you one chance; please stop."_

" _I was right," Sasuke sneered. "You don't understand what your own pain is or what my pain is! You'll never understand! How could someone as weak as you possibly ever understand?" Then he charged, chidori flaring in his hand._

" _I won't let you," Naruko growled, as she formed a clone that began to rotate the chakra in her hand. She leaped at her friend, rasengan tearing at the air in front of her. To her surprise, she missed, and she felt a sudden tearing pain as the chidori tore through her stomach, tearing at her major organs, and electrifying her entire body, and she fell to the ground, and knew that this was the end._

" _Naruko!" she heard Sakura yell, and she watched helplessly as her pink-haired friend charged at the person she once considered her brother, only to have the same result. Sasuke's sword was lodged right into her friend's neck. Naruko could've sworn that time was slowed down as she watched her friend fall to the ground in two pieces. She could only scream helplessly. She couldn't even save her closest friends._

 _And then she felt her heart pound in her chest, as she saw red, and felt the fox's overwhelming chakra flood her body. And this time, she let it take over. She let the Kyuubi's overwhelming hatred overpower her mind and body. She couldn't save Sakura, but maybe with the fox she would have enough hate to kill Sasuke. She wouldn't have it any other way._

-0-

"Itamiko-nee," she heard a frantic voice shaking her awake. Itamiko woke up slowly, her throat felt raw. There was Naruto, standing by her, looking very concerned. "You were screaming," he said.

"It was just a nightmare," she said. Her voice was hoarse. How loud had she been screaming? "Go back to sleep, kid. You need it."

With a look of hesitation, he left her room and soon she heard him snoring. Itamiko groaned and took off her shirt. There, on her stomach, was the scar left from when Sasuke had stabbed her. She didn't have many scars, and she found it odd that she had this scar, but not the one from when he had stabbed her in the heart when he had left the village. Though, she supposed it was probably because at that point he was a lot stronger than she had been. She had been having nightmares rather frequently, but this one was a lot worse than usual.

Maybe it was because there was only a month left until Naruto became a Genin, and Sasuke the same. She would have to try to keep him on the right path, and also not kill him when she first would see him. She'd sealed herself off from Kurama, so she wasn't as angry as usual, but it would still be difficult. Then it hit her that she wouldn't be able to do much because she was only a Chunin. The Hokage hadn't made her a Jounin because it would have been suspicious, so she'd have to take the Jounin exam, wouldn't she? Wasn't Kurenai taking it soon? Maybe she'd just do it with her. And then she laid back down and tried to fall back asleep.

-0-

Naruto was going to be late to the academy again. Iruka-sensei was going to be mad. Of course, it was mostly because he had been woken up at three in the morning by Itamiko-nee screaming at the top of her lungs. She said it was a nightmare, but he didn't think that anyone could have a nightmare that was that bad. He'd think on it later, right now he had to quickly eat his breakfast. Maybe he would get Ino's advice. She was good with people after all.

Looking at the clock, he realized that he had five minutes to get to class, and he bolted out window and to the academy. He bumped into some people, and they gave him dirty looks, but they'd forgive him once they realized how awesome he was.

He sprinted into the building and into the classroom, right on time. He wasn't able to stop in time though, and ran straight into Iruka-sensei. "NARUTO," Iruka-sensei yelled. His head was huge.

"What?" Naruto said innocently. "I'm on time." In the background he could hear Kiba and Shikamaru laughing. He also heard Sakura-chan groaning.

"Take your seat, Naruto," Iruka-sensei sighed.

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto waved him off, before sitting next to Shikamaru. Shikamaru was cool, and it was even cooler that Sakura-chan was sitting right in front of him, but he didn't understand why he also sat behind that bastard Sasuke. Ignoring it, Naruto tried to listen to Iruka-sensei, but he was just droning on and on about chakra or whatever, so he fell asleep.

He of course, woke up just on time for lunch, as usual. He got lucky that Iruka-sensei had ignored him this time. Usually he, Kiba, Choji, and Shikamaru would all wind up getting in trouble, or getting an eraser to the forehead. Usually depending on what they were getting in trouble for.

"Hey Naruto," Kiba called over to him, "wanna play ninja with us?"

"Not today," Naruto responded. He was headed over where to Sakura and Ino were sitting, he had questions to ask Ino.

"Alright," Kiba smirked. "Suit yourself." He then turned around to argue with the others on how they were going to split up the teams.

Naruto ran over to where the two girls were seated, somewhat distant from Sasuke, just watching him. It was kind of creepy.

Unfortunately, Sakura spotted him first, much to her displeasure. "Naruto what the hell are you doing here. I'm not going to go on a date with you," she yelled. Then she hit him on the head, again. It hurt.

"Actually, umm, I have a question I want to ask Ino," he said.

"What? Me?" Ino was flustered. She regained her composure. "What is it?" she asked, as if she were suspicious about what he was going to ask her.

"Umm, you're good with people right?" he began.

"Yeah," Ino said unsurely.

"What do you know about ninja having nightmares?" he asked.

"Well my dad says that it's really common, but they usually don't last long," she said. "Why do you ask?"

"Well," he said, unsure if he should tell her, "when my apartment was broken into again last night, Itamiko-nee let me stay at hers, and she woke up me really early in the morning because she was screaming, and I had to wake her up. She said it was just a nightmare, but I'm not sure. She just got back from a really long mission last month."

Ino frowned. "I'll ask my dad on his opinion, but they are probably just nightmares."

Sakura was looking at him in disbelief, like she didn't understand that he had a friend. "What's she look like?" she asked.

"She's pale, has blonde hair like mine, only has one eye, and it's purple," Naruto explained. "Thanks, bye," he said then ran off.

"Do you think he made her up?" Sakura asked Ino.

"No," Ino scolded her friend. "But I'm kind of worried about him. He said his apartment was broken into, but since he's an orphan he should be at the orphanage. He also said 'again.'" She frowned. "I need to talk to my dad."

-0-

Hiruzen was yet again filing paperwork. No matter how quickly he worked, it always seemed to stack up on him. Of course, his mind was only half on the paperwork. He was really thinking about Itamiko. He had her blood tested, and it was a near perfect match to Naruto's. He had asked her to show him the seal that she had used, and upon examining it, had concluded that it would allow for time travel. He had no doubts that she truly as telling him the truth, but she hadn't said more than couple words about why she did it. Her situation had not been a good one, but he was worried about how bad it would end up being and how they could prevent if possible.

He was interrupted from his thoughts when an ANBU opened the door to his office and announced "Itamiko Shiokaze is here to see you."

"Very well, let her in," he said. The ANBU stepped back and allowed Itamiko to step in. "Ah, Itamiko-chan, it's good to see you," he smiled. "What can I do for you?"

"I'd like to register for the Jounin application," she said abruptly.

Hiruzen sighed, he'd been expecting this, but there would be a lot of complications. The Hyuuga clan was going to have quite an issue with her Byakugan. "I was wondering when you were going to ask that. Very well, I'll let you do it, but we'll have to go over a couple of issues first."

Itamiko groaned. "You mean like my eye and mysterious backstory."

"Yes," he said. So she had prepared for this too. "Hiashi won't take kindly to you having a Byakugan, nor will the elders take kindly to your lack of prior life here."

"Yeah," she said. "I have an idea," she thought out loud, "hear me out. We've already established that I'm a war orphan who came to Konoha, sped through the academy, and became a Chuunin shortly after. We've also established that I never made any friends then, my team all died, and that I've been following Itachi Uchiha and the Akatsuki for the last five years, right?"

Hiruzen nodded. "Yes, so the last 5 years you can explain by what you know about what's been going on. Your reason for bailing?"

Itamiko frowned. "The mission was compromised. I had been detected by his partner, and I escaped with what information I had. My parents were killed during the first few days of the Third Great Ninja War, and I was found alone as a three year old and brought back to the village. I graduated the academy at age seven and was a Chunnin by age ten. During those three years I was mostly with my team, who were all killed during an ambush by Iwa shinobi at the end of the war. My teammates were… Shiro Kagayaki, and Kosai Juhi. Shiro was laid back and good with genjutsu. Kosai was energetic and focused on taijutsu; she also turned out to be half Hyuuga and developed the Byakugan just before she died, which she gave to me. Our sensei was just named Tenki. He wasn't much of a Jounin and was a dull person to be around. Will that work?"

Hiruzen thought about it. "That's a very good cover. I personally don't have an issue with it. Inoichi knows the truth, so he'll trust you. Shikaku is going to be suspicious, but when you manage to win him over, you'll also win over Choza. Tsume and Shibi are also going to be suspicious, but I have no doubt you can convince them. Tsume at least; but Shibi won't make a big deal once she's convinced. Koharu and Homura will be very suspicious, but they'll trust me. Danzo, on the other hand isn't going to be convinced no matter what. Watch out for him."

"I will," Itamiko said. She knew that Danzo would be an issue. Then she sighed. "Glad to hear it, I was worried that this might be brought under investigation immediately."

"Expect some questioning afterwards, but nothing too extreme, unless Danzo is even more suspicious than I expect him to be," he reassured her. "May I ask, why do you wish to become a Jounin? It isn't so that you can teach Naruto yourself, is it?"

She grinned at him, although it was somewhat pained. "Me teach? No thanks," she laughed. She took a more serious tone. "No, I need to be a Jounin so I can have more mobility in the field. I don't know how exactly things will change when I change them, so I'll need to be able to change orders more without getting in a lot of trouble. Also, I figured that if I gain a name for myself Konoha will be less likely to be attacked, with another Jounin on its register."

Hiruzen chuckled. "It almost sounds like you want to become a Jounin just because you want to be insubordinate."

Itamiko shot him a grin. "Well, I never really followed the rules a lot anyway."

Hiruzen smiled sadly. "Well," he said, "let's hope that for once not following orders puts us in a good place."

"We can only hope that it works out, but I won't give up until I'm dead," she said.

"Well, at least you have the determination to go through with it," he agreed. "Now go," he dismissed her, "I'll send an ANBU after you when it's time for the exams. I have a lot of paperwork to do."

-0-

Ino wouldn't usually find herself worrying about Naruto of all people. He was loud and obnoxious, and he was always pestering Sakura; she just didn't like him. Most people didn't. But what he had said today really was bugging her. Yeah he was annoying, and his pranks were even more so, but that was no reason for people to break into his apartment. And who is this Itamiko anyway? She was fairly lost in thought, so much so that someone might have mistaken her for a Nara, and nearly walked straight into her mother.

"Hey Ino-chan," she called out, "got a lot on your mind? I hope this isn't about that Sasuke boy again."

"No, it's not that," she informed her mother. "Where's dad? I need to speak to him."

"Hmm, oh, he's in his office."

"Ok, thanks." He was always in his office. Despite being the retired head of the Torture and Interrogation Unit, he still seemed to be lost in paperwork. Ino thought it was because he was helping the Hokage with it all, or being forced to help. As always, she knocked before entering and Inoichi hardly looked up from his paperwork.

"If this is about the Uchiha again, Ino," he warned her.

"What's wrong about asking about Sasuke, I'm just curious," she mumbled. "Anyway it's not about him this time, I swear."

He raised an eyebrow. "Then who is it about?"

"Naruto."

"Naruto?" that question definitely threw him off balance. "What about him?" There was some information about that kid that he wouldn't be able to tell her, despite how hard he knew it could be to ignore her and tell her no when she wanted something.

"Well," she began, "he came up to Sakura and me today during lunch, and I thought that he was just going to ask Sakura out again, but then he asked me if having nightmares was normal. Apparently he was over at one of his friend's apartments because his was broken into. Then he said that he was woken up when she had a really bad nightmare. So I told him what you told me, but I was wondering why would people break into his apartment? I mean, he's annoying and all, but I don't think that he deserves that. And shouldn't he also be in the orphanage still? Also who's his friend? I think he said that her name is Itamiko."

"Well," Inoichi was thinking a way to explain the situation to her, "I didn't know that people were breaking into his apartment, but the Hokage set up his living situation because the orphanage didn't want him."

"But why would the orphanage not want him there?" Ino asked. "After all, aren't they supposed to take care of all children without parents, no matter what?"

This was getting into territory where he really had to be careful. "Well, there are a lot of people who hate Naruto just because he was born on the same day as the day the Nine Tails attacked. According to them, he's the Nine Tails reincarnated and is the reason the Fourth Hokage is dead."

"That's ridiculous," she exclaimed. "Naruto's annoying but he's not evil. Can you tell me who Itamiko is?"

Again, not all information that he could tell her. "Yeah, she's a Chuunin who got back from an extended mission last month. I don't really know much more than that, but if she's having trouble sleeping I can talk to her about it. Is that all you wanted to talk to me about?"

"No." She grimaced. "Am I really going to have to be on a team with Shikamaru and Chouji?"

He laughed. Here was something he could answer in full honesty. "Yes, you're going to have to continue with the clan tradition, even if you think that they're both slackers. I thought the same of Shikaku and Chouza at first, but we're all great now. Don't worry, you'll all do fine."

 **A/N:**

 **I rewrote that like 5 times actually and I still don't really like it. The next chapter will be great though I promise. But did you know I really appreciate reviews?**

 **11/2/16:**

 **I decided to continue with my revision and here is a revised chapter 2.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:**

 **If I could put the sunglasses emoji here I would. Also I have wifi again so I might upload again sometime soon if I feel like it. Also guess who doesn't own Naruto. It's me.**

Chapter 3

"Kurama, I know this is a little last minute, but there are a couple things I need to test out," Itamiko told her inner demon.

" **What could you possibly need to test at this hour?** " he grumbled back.

"I'm taking a test to make it Jounin tomorrow, and I need to test to see which of my abilities work and don't work," she explained.

" **You've made Jounin before, you can do it again**." He really didn't care, it seemed.

"Yeah of course I know that, you idiot, but I need to test to see what I can do without you. I'm going to transfer you to a clone to compare."

" **Yeah, yeah, just get on with it**."

Transferring only Kurama's chakra was fairly simple to do, but with this she was also transferring his mind, which was much trickier, and could have a far worse backlash. But, as she'd done it before, she should be able to do it again. First she gathered the chakra for the clone, but instead of releasing it immediately, she guided Kurama from the seal then into the mass of chakra that would be the clone. Then she had to support the clone with more of her own chakra before releasing it, so it wouldn't fail. A pop of smoke next to her showed her that the technique had succeeded, so she closed the seal tight, so no chakra could leak from it.

"Well, what do you want to test first?" her clone demanded impatiently.

"My Byakugan. It's one of the few things older than the Bijuu, so it shouldn't be weaker without you. But if it is, it's going to be a serious hindrance," she said without hesitation.

Kurama said nothing, but she could see the Byakugan activate, and after a moment he said "There's an odd looking beetle on one of the trees in the forest behind us."

After a moment of searching she found it. "Yeah that's something only an Aburame would touch."

"Good, your Byakugan is just as powerful as you thought," he noted. "What do you want to check next?"

She thought for a moment. "We know that I'm not as physically strong or fast anymore, and that even my jutsu are weaker, and that I can't summon. But we haven't tested out how fast I can heal or how well I can sense. Let's start with healing."

Simultaneously they made small cuts on their arms with their kunai, and as expected, the clone Kurama was possessing healed nearly instantaneously, while Itamiko took nearly a full minute to heal. "Damnit that's not good at all," she muttered. "How about we try bubbling up chakra around the wound this time?" she suggested.

They repeated the experiment, though this time with bubbles of chakra. Kurama's chakra healed the wound the moment the chakra bubble touched it, while Itamiko's chakra bubbles took a couple of seconds to fully work. "Well that's a bit of an inconvenience."

"You'll just have to be more careful," Kurama told her.

"That's hard to do when I'm not as strong or as fast as I once was," she reminded him.

"Then train," he commanded. "You can still become stronger, and you have time. You have time, so use it."

"Don't think I won't. Now let's test emotion sensing. Sensing chakra was something I learned to do without your influence, so that won't change, but it's you who does the emotion sensing."

"I doubt you'll be able to do it at all," he said. "At the bar down the street, I'm sensing a guy who has a lot of guilt. About something he did to a girl. I think he had an affair. He's not drunk yet so it's a bit harder to tell exactly what."

"Alright show off," she mumbled and began concentrating. She could feel some emotions, which was better than she thought she'd be able to do, but locating the guy who Kurama was talking about was difficult. After several minutes of intense focusing, she found him.

"Oh, where you actually able to find him?" Kurama asked.

"Yeah, but that took an extremely long time, it won't be any help at all in finding an akatsuki member."

"That being said," Kurama input, "it's still impressive that you were able to do any emotion sensing at all. Considering that it's one of my abilities, you shouldn't be able to do it all without me."

Itamiko was surprised. "So you're saying that it's something I've learned to do on my own? I'll have to work on making that stronger along with my other skills."

Kurama nodded. "And on the topic of sensing, we need to test your sage mode. I don't doubt that you can do it, but if it still looks like the toad sage mode, people are going to have some questions, especially considering that you don't have the toad contract here."

She hadn't thought of that. "Yeah I guess I should. I need to still be able to use that. Having to hide it will put me at quite the disadvantage." And with no hesitation, she and Kurama began to meditate. She felt the refreshing nature energy flood into her body and mix with her own chakra. She opened her eyes and looked at her clone, and saw that, thankfully, sage mode no longer looked the same.

While her Byakugan showed only the slightly pinker pupil instead of the pure white as usual, her other eye was a striking green, and her pupil had turned yellow. The pigment around her eyes was brown instead of orange, and it swept all the way in a solid bar to the side of her head. And there was mark on forehead as well. Unlike the eye-like symbol of the first hokage, this was a triangle, with no bottom side, and a green X in the middle.

"It looks kind of like Hashirama's," she noticed.

"I can only guess it's because in this world you learned it in the same way he did and in the same area," Kurama said. "Nature energy is rather odd in that way."

"I suppose," she muttered.

Before she had a chance to test her next idea, there was a knock on her apartment door, and she let the sage mode fade. Kurama poofed himself, and Itamiko groaned as all that chakra returned to her system. Having him return so suddenly hurt like bitch.

-0-

To his surprise, Inoichi realized he could sense Naruto's presence in the building far more than he could sense his target, Naruko, or Itamiko now he supposed. To be fair, he thought to himself, Naruto was not even a Genin yet, so he wouldn't be able to hide his chakra. That didn't stop him from being surprised on how much chakra the kid actually had.

As he neared Itamiko's apartment, he tried using his sensing to see if he could figure out what she was like before he went to talk to her. As someone who was good at reading people, he had his tricks. But to his surprise, yet again, he could barely sense her. In fact there seemed to be two chakras from her. He realized with a start that she had managed to separate the Kyuubi's chakra from her without him going rampant and destroying the village. Even more surprising to him was the thought that they were probably working together. Both chakras were muted in the same way, though. It was kind of like… Jiraiya-sama's sage mode he realized. It was exactly like that.

That would explain a few things. If the universe she came from was anything like the one he was in, something he really didn't want to dwell on, then she probably was the daughter of Minato. Jiraiya had taught the sage mode to Minato, and it would make sense that he would pass it on to Naruko too. Of course that meant that Naruto would probably learn it too

Composing himself, he knocked on the door. As soon as he did that, the Bijuu's chakra vanished and he felt her exit sage mode. He surprised her, even though she was in sage mode. He supposed she just wasn't doing any sensing. She opened the door, and the anger and fear faded from her when she saw it was him.

"Yamanka-sama," she greeted, "what can I do for you." She was being remarkably formal. Well it was better that way in case someone was listening.

"Itamiko-san is it? I hope I'm not interrupting anything," he said smoothly. He supposed he should act like there was some other reason that he was coming here.

"Come in then," she invited of him. "I suppose we have a lot to talk about, if the former head of torture of interrogation is coming to visit me." He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. "What do you want, Inoichi?" Her tone was somewhat hostile. "If it's because you don't trust me, I don't know what else I can do to prove to you that I'm telling the truth."

"It's not that," he assured her. "I believe you. This is about something else. I got a rather strange request from my daughter to talk to you. She said that Naruto had told her that you had a bad nightmare and she thought that I should go talk to you."

Itamiko snorted with amusement. "Ah, that kid doesn't really know how to keep his mouth shut."

Inoichi couldn't help but agree, Naruto was very loud, but "I know very well that a lot of shinobi have a lot of trouble sleeping. Nightmares are very common. We do not lead easy lives. If you need to talk to anyone, let me know."

"Hey," she started, "I'm fine. I've done this all before, and this time it will be better for everyone." She was getting angry.

"I know you want to save everyone," Inoichi said, "but you can't do it if you're emotionally compromised. It's the same for anyone. You're no different. Your mission is important, and though no one of us understand the consequences of what will happen if you mess up, I know that you're going to make the wrong decision because you're compromised."

"It was bad," she said quietly, "but it's one I've had for a while now. I've never been good at putting the mission first. And I know that there are some things that I want to do that but I still keep stopping myself from doing because I know it will be worse in the long run."

"It's not going to get any easier," he told her.

"I know," she said, "but I can't stop now."

-0-

After Inoichi left, Itamiko found herself in a very confused emotional state. She had already ran into so many people that had died. She had already spent a lot of time going over how she felt. It was hard. She had gone home crying, multiple times. She didn't know how to feel. Did she just go back into things like they were normal? With some people maybe she could. Maybe.

Did she act like she was overjoyed and happy to see them again? No. They didn't know her. They wouldn't react well to that. She was trying to blend in. She was trying to ease herself back into the normal life. She knew a lot, a lot of things that they couldn't know.

She was so happy to see everyone. But they didn't know her, not really. Most of them just thought that she was a bit of a loner by nature. She wasn't. She was overjoyed to see them, so happy she could cry. But they didn't know her; she couldn't tell them. She wanted to scream and tell everything. But she couldn't.

It was miserable.

How would she feel when she would see Sasuke? She would want to kill him. He had killed her best friend. But this Sasuke hadn't. He was just a lonely, angry child. He would be a great friend. But she wanted more than anything for him to be dead.

How would she feel when she Sakura, or Ino, or Kiba, or Hinata, or Shikamaru, or Lee, or Tenten, or Neji. She had been the closest with them. But to them she was an adult, someone who wouldn't be their friend. Who couldn't be. She would want to burst into tears the moment she saw them, but she couldn't.

Everything was the same yet nothing was the same. She wanted to go back to her world when everything was ok. But she couldn't. All she could do was steel herself and pretend that she was just readjusting after a long mission.

It was miserable.

-0-

Itamiko woke up from her rather rough night not at all wanting to be where she was. She had thought that because she had no one to go back to she would be more willing to stay and save this world. Now she wasn't so sure, but she knew it would be easier once she became a Jounin. The exam was in an hour after all, and she needed to be there, or her chances of ever becoming a Jounin would lower dramatically. It was important to stay true to your commitments.

Though she was beginning to have second thoughts. After all, it was well known that Jounin only ever got that to be that rank in the field. Hardly anyone ever passed the test. She knew she had the skill to pass the test, but it still seemed nearly impossible.

She had changed, she realized with a start. When she was younger she had no fear of not passing the Chunnin exams. She had ambition and courage. Where had all that gone?

She dressed in her gear, opting not to bring her coat; it had a high chance of becoming a liability in a situation like this. She forced herself out the door and body flickered to the warehouse where the exam was being held. Kurenai was not yet there, but most of the clan heads were, as well as a few other Jounin and Special Jounin who she didn't all recognize.

"Shiokaze-san," a Jounin she didn't recognize said, "before we begin, we have a few questions for you. For starters, what areas do you work in?"

"I'm mostly a nin-tai type, but I also use kenjutsu, senjutsu, fuinjutsu, and shurikenjutsu. I have basic knowledge of genjutsu and iryo-ninjutsu. I frequently utilize stealth and acrobatics. On top of that I have sensing abilities and very little ability to sense emotion. I am proficient at using my Byakugan to track as well as use in combat," she said

"Very well," the Jounin said, not showing any surprise at any of her abilities. "And what nature releases can you use?"

"I have a wind affinity," she responded, "but I also use water and fire jutsu."

"Follow me," the Jounin said. "First we will test your ninjutsu." He lead her to another room in the warehouse where a group of ninja were sitting a desk. They were likely the panel that would judge her. Both Gai and Kakashi were there. While Kakashi looked bored out of his mind, Gai looked ecstatic to see a new comrade's abilities.

"Begin," he said.

Thinking of which one to show off first, she ran through a quick series of hand seals. "Fire Style: Burning Shrapnel Jutsu!" She took a deep breath before exhaling thousands of flaming pieces of shrapnel. It was a widespread jutsu that could be used to bring an enemy out of hiding and wound them if they weren't fast enough. What it lacked in stopping power it made for in speed. The burning pieces had impaled themselves all throughout the wall and floor, where they continued to do so. It was an impressive jutsu, one that took a lot of chakra. The judges were writing notes; Kakashi looked interested.

She then decided to show some variety and ran through another series of handseals. "Water Style: Crashing Wave!" She took another deep breath before exhaling a giant wave. Like any other jutsu of the kind, it was used for sweeping enemies away and changing the battlefield. Having the ground covered in water made it easier to use other water jutsu. It also had the side effect of putting out the shrapnel.

She knew she had the judges impressed. She had used two large jutsu without a huge dent in her chakra levels. They had been opposite chakra natures, which made it all the more impressive. It was difficult to switch chakra natures like that so quickly.

And of course she had said she had an affinity towards wind, and she didn't want to disappoint, she only had to make a couple of hand seals. "Wind Style: Ball of Swords!" A ball of wind formed in her hand, which she threw, and it curved towards a post in the room. As it hit it expanded rapidly, and blades of wind sliced threw it completely. It was originally a variation of the Rasengan, not that anyone had to know that. But the point was that it was an incredibly difficult jutsu that she had pulled off without a hitch and hardly any hand seals. That was a Jounin level skill for sure.

"Your next test will be on your-" the Jounin who had lead her here started before he was interrupted loudly by Gai.

"Yosh! That was an impressive display of ninjutsu!" Gai applauded. "But now you will face me and I shall determine if you use your taijutsu as well as your ninjutsu!" He launched himself at her, barely giving her a chance to activate her Byakugan.

He was testing her, trying to find a weakness in her defense. He wouldn't find one, especially not with the Byakugan that she had, but he was definitely stronger than her. After the first few punches that he had thrown at her and she had blocked, she realized that it wouldn't be long until he broke her arm, so relied on dodging. She was glad that she was faster than he was when he didn't have any of the eight gates open.

He aimed a roundhouse kick at her head, and she ducked. Seeing the opportunity, she grabbed said leg and attempted to throw him. He did a flip in the air and landed on his feet, but she was already there. She threw a punch at his face, which he blocked. However, his arms were in front of his face, and she used his temporary lack of vision to her advantage. She grabbed onto his arm and flipped herself around him, wrapped her legs around his neck and used the momentum to throw him onto the ground. She leapt off him, and landed in a crouch right in front of him, preparing to rush herself at him.

But she didn't have to, as from the ground, Gai laughed. "Impressive! You are most youthful! I give, you beat me. Not many can say that. Itamiko-san! I must invite you to spar with my Genin and me tomorrow!"

At that, she heard snickering among some of the judges at the panel. The all knew how hard it was to say 'no' to Gai once he had his mind set on something. "I would be honored," she responded. Gai lit up and she wondered if that was really the best way to say yes.

"Next," the Jounin said, "Hayate Gekko will test you skills with kenjutsu." She hadn't seen Hayate among the panel, but he walked from behind a box and gave her a wry smile. "Alright," he coughed. "Run through a series of kata." Was that it? Well that did seem like him. So she did. On every pose, he wrote notes down. On occasion, he would stop her and quiz her on something about using a sword, or ask her about her different stances. It wasn't all that much compared to the taijutsu. Though Gai was known for always going over the top.

"Your next test," the Jounin said after Hayate had quizzed her on everything related to Kenjutsu, "is to show us your ability to use senjutsu." He pulled out a stopwatch and she realized that he was going to test how well she would be able to use it in combat.

That was an easy one, though. She was able to access sage mode in just a couple of seconds. Not as fast as the First Hokage was able to, but faster than any monk in the fire temple. The Jounin wrote down the time, and she let sage mode fade.

The testing still proceeded. First they had her draw a seal that would be able to store ten crates in it, as well as a barrier seal. Then, one of the Jounin threw a cloud of shuriken, and made her hit every single one of them using only 15 of her own kunai. They had her do the basic healing activity of healing a fish, they tested her on the variety and effectiveness of her genjutsu, they had her find a single senbon in one of the warehouses using the Byakugan, they had her sense the number of ninja in one warehouse, they had her emotion sense to see which one the three ninja would be the traitor, the sent her down an obstacle course, and they made her hide from an Aburame for an hour. Then they were done. They sent her to another side room where she saw Kurenai was already waiting.

"That was… a lot," she complained to her friend.

"That was one of the worst things I've ever had to go through," Kurenai agreed.

-0-

"Give me your opinions on them," Shikaku commanded of the ninja gathered before him. As the Jounin Commander, it was his place to determine if a ninja who took the exams was qualified to become a Jounin.

Shibi Aburame stepped forward, holding out a scroll, and read from it. "We have determined that Kurenai Yuuhi is qualified to become a Jounin. She know a variety of ninjutsu, though none of it is above a B-rank. Her taijutsu is just above that of standard Chuunin level, however, she excels at grappling. She has a vast knowledge of seals, and is capable of making seals that affect the mind without hurting it. She knows no iryo-ninjutsu but is capable of tending to most wounds without it. And finally she has mastered genjutsu. She knows genjutsu that can affect anyone in anyway and is very difficult to break, even with doujutsu."

"Very well," Shikaku said, "and the other one?"

Kakashi Hatake was the one who read the scroll this time. "We have determined that Itamiko Shiokaze is qualified to become a Jounin. She excels in both ninjutsu and taijutsu, and can augment both with senjutsu. Her kenjutsu, fuinjutsu, and shurikenjutsu are all at above average levels. She is fast, flexible, and stealthy. She has average sensing ability and has developed a beginner level emotion sensing ability. She is proficient in using her Byakugan with tracking and with combat. She has a basic level of iryo-ninjutsu and genjutsu."

"Before I accept them both to become Jounin," Shikaku started, "are there any concerns that any of you have about them that could affect their ability to play a crucial role in this villiage?"

"I have one for both," said Ibiki. "Kurenai taught a member of the Kurama clan who was mentally unstable and had to be sealed. It is possible that she could be plotting to free her former pupil. Itamiko sprung up out of seemingly nowhere after returning from a long mission. While much is unknown about her, which is a risk, what's even more risky is that she was following Itachi Uchiha. He could have implanted a genjutsu on her and she could be a sleeper cell. However, they both passed the psych tests, and Inoichi has personally seen to Itamiko, so I believe both of these to be minor risks."

"I also have a problem with Itamiko," said Hiashi. "When new people come into play with the Byakugan, the Hyuuga clan personally sees to it that the Byakugan is properly sealed. However, we have read her case file, and know that it is not sealed. She is less likely to agree with the sealing, so we need it to be asked to see if the Byakugan is sealed."

"Very well," Shikaku said. "Bring them to me." He knew that both of Ibiki's concerns wouldn't be a problem. Kurenai was a trusted ninja, as was her father, and Itamiko had been through several tests to see if she was trustworthy. He had a lot of questions that he knew couldn't be answered, but she was trustworthy. He would see to Hiashi's concern though.

The doors opened, and both ninja were brought before him. "Before I begin," he said, "I have a question for Shiokaze-san."

"About what?" she asked.

"The seal status of your Byakugan," he responded.

"There are two seals on the eye itself that will permanently deactivate it one on the case of its removal and two, the case of my death. My eyepatch has a seal that only I can deactivate which allows for the removal of the eyepatch. However, it seems that there is a flaw that if my chakra is cut off from my use then it deactivates as well," she answered.

That was good. "Well I suppose then," he drawled, "that the both of you are now officially Jounin of Konohagakure no Sato. Congratulations."

"Thanks you very much," they said and bowed in unison.

"Don't go thanking me quite yet," he smirked. "One last thing before I dismiss you both. Do either of you wish to become a Jounin Sensei?"

"Yes," said Kurenai.

"Not yet," said Itamiko.

"Very well," he said. "Kurenai, as graduation is close by, you will still remain in the village until then. Itamiko, you are still off of active duty. You will return to your missions when the time is up. Now both of you go and celebrate." He smirked as they thanked him again and left. He didn't really get the appeal of being a Jounin; it was troublesome. He had some paperwork to fill out then. It would take the Hokage forever to update the two's information in their database.

-0-

As the exited the building, Kurenai whirled on Itamiko and drew her into a brief hug. "I can't believe we did it!" she exclaimed.

Itamiko couldn't help but smile. "Yeah that was something else," she agreed.

"You know, I think you two just started a record by having two people take the Jounin exams and pass, or it's incredibly rare anyway," a new voice said. "I don't actually know." Anko walked around the corner, with Genma, holding a box of dango and a bottle of sake. "This calls for a celebration."

Genma tossed them both their own bottle. "Come on," he said, "we've got all day to do this right."

Itamiko turned to look at Kurenai. "Well, I'm not going to turn down booze that I didn't have to pay for."

"You people are going to be the death of me," she muttered before following them.

 **A/N:**

 **Well life happened. I got a job. Then marching band started. Then then my wifi decided to stop. Then the rest of school started. Now marching band is over and I have wifi again. As well as a newfound love for jazz. Peace**


End file.
